Rosaline Banick
Rosaline Banick (or Rose) is a halfling wizard in her mid to late twenties, one of the Lex Arcanis' few remaining more powerful members. She has a lithe build, petite, even, often appearing small even compared to other hin. She is often seen in the company of her long time traveling companion, Gilvia Fleetmoon, and of her three month old daughter, Melly. Background Rosaline was born in Forum Octina, a well known trade city on the eastern coast of the Golden Empire, infamous for its reputation as a hive of criminal activity. Her parents helped to run a small trading company, but after a close call with the city's criminal element, decided it safer to make their living elsewhere. The family moved to Teafield, where Rosaline and Gilvia first met. The two eventually came to be fast friends, and when they came of age, Rose departed with her for the Shores of Winter, intending to see the world and seek her fortune, and hoping for the opportunity to pursue a budding interest in the arcane. Involvement Rosaline has been involved in numerous unusual events since coming to the Shores. Shortly after her arrival, she, along with Gilvia and Frogrim, went to Urogalan's Rock in search of a number of halflings who had vanished from Narrowisle Crossing and Urogalan's Depths under mysterious circumstances, somehow involving kuo-toa and a strange green light. The three returned, unsuccessful, but the missing people reappeared after a month or two, seemingly on their own. She later helped to repel an attack on Urogalan's Depths by more of the strange fish creatures. In the process, she somehow caused the death of one of the Grimwardens living there, Mellissan, but most if not all of the others seem to have grudgingly forgiven her since. Rosaline was also somehow involved in conflicts with Morgril the Lich, which eventually led to the destruction of his phylactery. She fought at the Battle of Bloodfall, when Araathark the White when he tried to enact a plan to cover the Shores in endless winter. By happenstance, a magic missile cast from a wand of her creation struck the final blow against the dragon, but the adventurers' celebration was cut short, as she and Tarla, the Seer of Bloodfall, both collapsed, suffering from some mysterious ailment. They eventually recovered, and joined the remaining adventurers as they made their way to Tarloc, shortly before the "necromancers" Drego and Collek were executed and the city was invaded by kuo toa. The adventurers' true involvement is not publically known; none were seen during the actual attack. Over the next three months, little was publically seen of Rosaline, who spent most of her time cooped up in an inn room at the Hollow Pumpkin in Pinedale, until she eventually returned to Frostkeep, where rumors began to spread that she was with child, by an unknown father. She gave birth to a healthy baby daughter, Mellissan, or Melly for short, named after the deceased Grimwarden, but it was not without incident: a force of kuo toa attacked the guild hall of the Lex Arcanis while Rose was in labor, apparently with the intent of kidnapping the soon to be born infant, but they were repelled. A number of days later, Tarla made her way down to Frostkeep to visit the newborn and her mother, some suspect to privately attempt to foretell her future, as she had a few months earlier for Lillian, Janita Marlson's daughter. Since then, Rose has been adapting slowly to her new life, spending less time adventuring and more caring for her child, with Gilvia's aid. Prior to the town's sacking by the orcish horde under the command of Baradush the Ravager and Kurgen the Grey-Eye, they had been building a house in Frostkeep, near the Lex Arcanis guild hall, but it was never completed and is presumed since destroyed. Since then, she has spent most of her time at Ashrinhold and in Pinedale, where she and Gilvia apparently intend to eventually settle down. She does still sometimes engage in dangerous pursuits, when the need (or her wanderlust) arises, having fought at the Battle of Ashrinhold and then aiding with the evacuation of Frostkeep. Occasionally, she'll leave Mellissan to someone else for a few hours, going off on some adventure or another, returning later to share tales with her of the unusual things she had seen, much to the frustration of friends who feel this irresponsible. Strategy Rosaline is a fairly powerful wizard, who also has some skill at stealth and with locks and traps, giving her a rather wide repertoire of strategies. She's known by some to have focused her recent studies in divinations, her most difficult to resist spell being a variation on Kazzar's Mind Flaying, which all but completely shuts down a single target's higher mental functions, crippling their ability to invoke arcane spells (and to do math, talk, perform basic sanitary functions without aid, and to manage more or less any other task that requires greater intellect than is possessed by an infant). If she has one glaring weakness, it is her physical stature: she is small and frail even by halfling standards, often struggling just to carry her own bags, and no doubt less than a match for a human warrior, without spells at least. Quotes *sketch sketch draw draw scribble draw sketch* *crank crank, reloads her crossbow* Trivia * Rosaline likes to draw, a hobby apparently picked up while she was still young. She's occasionally seen sketching something in a blank spot of her heavily disorganized spellbook, which is filled with similar drawings, in varying stages of completion. The better ones are highly detailed, and colored in with pastels, but most are unfinished. * She met her familiar-to-be when it fell through a hole in the ceiling of her room at the Three Dragons Inn (since repaired). Feeling pity for the sick bat, she and Gilvia nursed it back to health, eventually coming to affectionately dub it "Batty." The name stuck, and some time later, she performed the ritual to bind it as her familiar. * Rose joined the Lex Arcanis on Amir's invitation, initially exchanging services in aiding to teach for access to the guild's library, but she has since apparently developed some degree of loyalty to them. She's known to have a fair deal of affection for Maron Tannerson, the Lex's youngest student, often letting his antics slide, and encouraging Amir to do the same, with mixed results. * She is most often seen wearing her characteristic outfit consisting on a purple coat, tan pants, and a black belt and black boots, along with an enchanted purple cloak, made of some strange material that seems to almost blend with its surroundings. When adventuring, she occasionally wears an officious-seeming, yet somewhat gaudy magical blue robe, complete with spiked sleeves, which she claims once belonged to the archmage Kheldom, having been taken from him and eventually sold to her by someone present for his defeat at the Battle of Ashrin Crossing. See also * Gilvia Fleetmoon Category:Player Characters